The first ‘Fight Night’ of 2015 for The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is scheduled to take place in Boston, MA next Sunday night (Jan. 18, 2015) when the promotion goes live on FOX Sports 1 with UFC Fight Night 59. The evening’s main card will be airing at 10pm ET and will be featuring four main card bouts in entirety. Awaiting Ireland’s Norman Parke in Boston will be the greatest challenge of his professional mixed martial arts career in Brazilian veteran Gleison Tibau. Parke is undefeated in his last 11 fights and has not lost since a 2010 submission to recent UFC-signee Joseph Duffy, who is also the only man to ever defeat Conor McGregor. Tibau has also been running hot, currently on a two-fight winning streak and 4-1 in his last five. He will be looking to extend that streak to three against Parke, in what is expected to be a very closely contested match-up, which is the exact kind the Brazilian often finds himself in. This is a fight that could either be very entertaining or very boring, but in either case, I think the Irish-heavy crowd will be backing up Parke and cheering on his every action. If the 28-year old can get past Tibau, he will earn himself a crack at a ranked opponent for his next outing. Parke opened as a +160 betting underdog in this contest, with Tibau being the favorite to win at -210. However, action has since come in on the Irishman, bringing current betting lines closer to a coin-flip, at a tight +110/-130. After that 155 pound scrap kicks things off for the main card of the evening, the middleweights will take center stage, as The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 finalist Urijah Hall takes on promotional newcomer Louis Taylor. Hall was originally scheduled to take on Costas Phillipou, who was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. Taylor is a Bellator and Strikeforce veteran and is currently riding an impressive four-fight winning streak, with all four wins coming by way of finish inside the very first round of action. The streak includes victories over Bellator veteran Joe Vedepo and UFC veteran Brian Houston, respectively. He finished his last three opponents, including Houston, via guillotine choke submission. That should be a fun fight and one that likely ends inside the distance, considering both 185 pounders are thought to be legitimate finishers. It is a big opportunity for Louis, but more of a lose/lose situation for Hall, who he is expected to win this fight in highlight-reel fashion. As expected, Hall opened as a heavy betting favorite in this bout at -505, with the return on the underdog Taylor being +335. The public has backed Hall up to this point, as current betting lines sit at -550/+425. Making co-main event appearances on back to back cards for the first time in UFC history, Donald Cerrone is stepping in as a late injury replacement for Eddie Alvarez against a man who owns two previous wins over him in Benson Henderson. “Cowboy” just defeated Myles Jury via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards at UFC 182 this past Saturday night, and the victory pushed his winning streak to six in a row inside the Octagon. He will be looking to extend that streak to seven in this trilogy match against Henderson, while simultaneously getting revenge for the two previous defeats. Henderson said that this will be his last fight at 155 pounds, and he will be making the move up to the welterweight division afterwards. He opted to have one last bout at lightweight before making the move, because he did not feel comfortable leaving the division on a loss, as he suffered his first career knockout in his last outing, which came in the first round of action against current number one contender Rafael dos Anjos. The betting odds for this trilogy bout opened at a coin-flip, with both fighters being -120. However, action has since come in on Henderson, making current betting lines -150/+130. Promised a featherweight title shot with a win is Irishman Conor McGregor, who gets set to take on veteran Denis Siver in the five round main event of the Massachusetts evening. McGregor foresees a dominant victory and he expects to earn it in under two minutes of action. He opened as a heavy -600 favorite in this contest, with the return on Siver being +400. Loads of action has since come in on him, bringing betting lines to a current -1200/+775.
